Self-reported job stress and personality in teachers of students with emotional or behavioral disorders

This study examined self-reported stressors for teachers of students with e motional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) using a questionnaire developed spe cifically for the study. The study examined (a) the relationship between re ported stressors and reported willingness to leave an E/BD teaching positio n, (b) the relationship between reported stressors and three personality tr aits from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) and (c) the relationship between the Eysenck personality traits and E/BD teacher-repor ted injury by students. One expected result was that E/BD teachers reportin g the largest number of stressors indicated a greater willingness to leave an E/BD teaching position than their peers with fewer stressors. Importantl y, teachers who reported low stress scored significantly lower than teacher s who reported high stress on the Psychoticism (P) and Neuroticism (N) scal es, but not on the Extroversion (E) scale on the EPQ-R. Teachers who report ed low stress were significantly below the normal range for the N scale. Of the sample studied, 19% reported being injured by a student within the pas t 12 months, a significant increase above those reporting such occurrences in previous studies on teacher injury. Moreover, teachers who had been inju red by a student scored significantly higher on Eysenck's P scale than did noninjured teachers, which suggests that such teachers may interact with st udents in a manner that puts them at greater risk for being injured. The re sults are discussed, and additional research is suggested.